A Different Kind Of Persona
by wolfiecaw
Summary: A middle school age Ryuji comes to terms with who he is. Years later, he realizes he had nothing to worry about. Written for Love, Skull zine.


Ryuji gripped onto the tiny slip in his hand, almost crushing it. His heart was pounding in his chest, little sweat drops formed on his forehead. This was it, the moment of truth. His feet slowly lifted from their almost permanent position on the tiled floor. His other hand reached out to touch the door. Then, in his burst of courage, Ryuji ripped it open.

He came eye to eye with an almost empty classroom. A few desks were pushed together, the rest were scattered in their usually positions. It was barren for a club room; no decorations, no food, nothing. Not even a schedule or an outline of an activity on the board. There wasn't even a teacher, which _really_ shocked Ryuji. Only two other people were there, both girls and sitting on desks. He stared at them for a while, words getting caught in his mouth. His head was spinning. So this is what it was? Just the three of them? They were the only ones? All this worry for nothing? A wave of relief washed over him. He was finally able to say,

"Takamaki-san? Suzui-san?"

The girls were staring back at him. Ann fiddled with her own hair, Shiho was leaning on Ann and flinging her legs. Neither of them said a thing. They just… stared at Ryuji. To be fair, he probably looked like a scared lamb, quivering and shocked. He ran his hands through his black hair, took second glances at the slip of paper he was holding.

"So this is the General Services Association— I mean, Gender and Sexuality Alliance?" Ryuji asked. Ann laughed at his funny pronunciation of English words, but nodded. Shiho giggled a bit too.

"Hey Takamaki-san shut up! Not everybody is half American like you! I don't even know what these words mean!" Ryuji snapped. He was angry, but he was still more nervous than that. He couldn't blow it… for now, these two were his lifeline.

"Oh, so you came here out of sheer curiosity? Bummer, I thought there actually was someone else like us…" Ann grumbled. She looked at Shiho, and it seemed like they were talking with their eyes. And their eyes showed… sadness, sadness that they were once again isolated. Realization that they really only had each other. But it wasn't true, Ryuji knew it wasn't. He came here for a reason. He had finally come to terms with who he was, and these girls were his first witnesses. He was going to say it. The sun shone through the windows on his face as he did so.

"That's not true! I got the gist of it… I came here because I am a boy who likes other boys! I'm gay!" Ryuji yelled. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes wide and confident. He was more exhilarated than scared now. He figured it was because he finally could tell someone who he really was, even though it was just some girls he barely talked to. Said girls began to… smile. Ryuji couldn't believe it. Just a few words had made their down expression completely brighten.

"Um, are you guys gonna say something?" Ryuji mumbled. Ann and Shiho laughed at him once more before exclaiming,

"Yeah, welcome to the club!"

Ryuji has begun coming to GSA every week. His parents never suspected anything because of the silly codename Ann had given it, based off of a government branch back in America. He was totally safe. While Ann and Shiho never really got what he meant whenever he rambled about a male classmate of his being hot, he was glad he had _somebody_ to tell. However, one question still sat on his mind.

"Hey, Suzui-san, are you and Takamaki-san dating?" he blurted out one day as they were decorating their notebooks with rainbows. Shiho dropped her blue marker right then and there, created a longer blue line than needed. Her face, on the other hand, was bright red. Ryuji snapped his fingers.

"Earth to Suzui-san! I asked you a question!" he persisted. Shiho gulped.

"Ryuji… you better promise to keep this secret, okay?" she began. Ryuji's eyes widened with intrigue. He nodded, even extended his pinky to promise with. Shiho clasped it then continued to speak.

"We are. But neither of our parents know, none of our classmates know, not even the public knows. This is the only place we can show our affection, however little," Shiho admitted. Ann looked at her solemnly, having heard her. Ryuji suddenly felt bad. He glanced at Ann, who was all the way on another desk playing solitaire. She looked… very lonely.

"Well, if it helps or anything, I don't mind if you guys kiss or stuff in front of me. So go ahead," he replied. He was trying his hardest to be helpful. Suddenly, Shiho jolted out of her seat and ran over to Ann. She pulled the other girl into an embrace and… kissed her. Now it was Ann's face that turned bright red, but she returned the kiss anyway. Ryuji stared on with a blank expression.

"Yeah, I'm definitely 100% into dudes," was his only comment.

Ryuji ran into Leblanc. He looked at all of his friends, the Phantom Thieves, lined up and sitting at the counter. They all noticed the sinister grin on their blond haired friend's face.

"You guys will not believe what I found," Ryuji exclaimed. This piqued everyone's interest. Dramatically, he walked over the empty seat next to Akira. He sat down in the hard red thing, slapped his hands down on the wooden counter. Moving his hand, he revealed a photo.

"No way," Ann commented first. Her cheeks turned slightly pink and she covered her mouth with her hands. Akira said nothing, but he really stared at the picture. It was as if he was making sure to take it all in. Morgana, on the other hand, was not at all serious. He practically died laughing, noting the obvious difference between the picture and current times. Yusuke appreciated the image, as it was but another medium of art. Haru softly sighed, thinking the image to be very cute. Makoto respected the image and why it was taken, similar to Akira (though she couldn't help sighing or laughing as well). Futaba was trying so hard to take a photo of the photo with her phone, never hesitant to find new blackmail. But most of all, Ryuji was smiling. He looked at all his friends, especially at Ann. _We've come so far_. _We found so many more of our people_ , he thought to himself.

The picture was of Ryuji, Ann, and Shiho smiling, sitting on the pushed together desks of the GSA room.


End file.
